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Louisiana residents are No. 4 least-proud of their state, according to a new Gallup poll. (Our advice: Love it or leave it!)

Fishing on the bayou

Who would want to live here? Not 73% of Louisianans, according to a Gallup poll, which found the state among the four-lowest states for national pride. Pictured here, Randy Clouse of Slidell casts on the banks of Bayou Lacombe on Oct. 30, 2013.
(David Grunfeld, Nola.com |The Times-Picayune)

Louisianans have a pride problem. In public, we may rave about the sublime suck of the crawfish head, the breathtaking sunrise over the bayou, or our inalienable right to go-cups. In private, we suffer from self-loathing and a crippling case of grass-is-greener-itis.

That is the sad conclusion of a national poll conducted by Gallup, which asked residents whether their state was the best or one of the best possible states to live in. Louisiana pride ranked 46 spots from the top, making us, in the opinion of our own surveyed residents, No. 4 among the least-desired states to live in.

Only 27 percent of Louisiana respondents expressed confidence in their state of "Union, Justice, and Confidence," as the state motto (supposedly) goes. We were just behind Mississippi, with 26 percent pledging state pride; Illinois (19 percent) and Rhode Island (18 percent).

On the list of most-favored states were mountainous, cold-weather climates that would offend the senses of Ignatius Reilly. We Louisianans tend to prefer shading under palms or dancing barefoot in the summer rain to roughing it under seven layers of underwear in Montana, Alaska, Utah and Wyoming. Yet somehow, the cold-blooded not only persevered, they triumphed: a whopping 77 percent of Montana and Alaska residents respectively wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

State pride, according to Gallup, is not skin deep. Residents who love their state "generally boast a greater standard of living, higher trust in state government, and less resentment toward the amount they pay in state taxes." Draw your own conclusions.

In any case, we are not alone in our statewide inferiority complex. According to Gallup, more than half of Americans long for the other side of the fence, as only 46% of respondents said their state was "the best" or "one of the best" to live in.

Gallup conducted the poll between June and December of 2013, interviewing 600 residents per state. Most respondents answered by saying their state was "one of the best" or "as good a state as any," according to Gallup. Illinois had the most residents (one in four) describe their state as "one of the worst" places to live.

Texans were more likely than any other respondents to say their state is the "very best" place to live, which should come as a surprise to absolutely no one.

Watch a Gallup video about the poll:

What do you think? Why are Louisianans so self-hating? Why do Texans love themselves so very dearly? Should we all buy parkas and move to the mountains? Share your thoughts in the comment stream below.